In the Albedo Anthropomorphics universe of Steve Gallacci, one has a cluster of planets colonized by slower-than-light starships (yes, the colonists are furry anthropomorphic animals, but that is beside the point). When one is living on the frontier rim where the government and the law is a distant and tenuous thing, often the only law is what one makes oneself, i.e., "taking the law into ones own hands." As civilization and development washed over the West, society became more stodgy. The tired old example is the "Wild West" society from the United State's pioneer period. Some characteristics of future societies can be extrapolated from their origins.
Modern society depends on markets for food production and distribution, in other words it all revolves around something called " money". Aristocrat-peasant society was fed by a subordinate class of peasants who worked the land and delivered a substantial part of the harvest to their aristocratic lords, without being paid. The relatively small amount of distribution was handled by sharing or barter between family and neighbors. Tribal society was based on a subsistence economy, where most people hunt, gather, herd, or grow their own food. And the culture may not only evolve with time, it may even go through cycles.ĭavid Maurer's Modern Transformation tries to explain the evolution of society and culture in terms of subsequent answers to the burning question of "where is the food going to come from?" That is, the mechanisms of food production and food distribution. Like all nations, interstellar empires will have an over-all society and culture (which is probably not true for sub-empire groups of governments such as suzerainties, confederations, etc.). The thriving energy that filled it depletedīuried in the pages of history, its true memories forgotten Its beating heart now the sand of the Coliseum With all its people and lands, like a giant What, I emphasize, is an "Empire"? Only when you can answer that question can you contemplate the subsequent issue of communication delays.Īny more and it would vanish, blown away by the windĮvery street, every statue, but so fragile, like a dream Such an empire can only exist where the periphery is sufficiently close to permit mass emigration. An exercise in colonization, characterized by 'lebensraum' in the East and a massive exercise in social and cultural control, to enforce the NSDAP's idea of good German culture upon its citizenry. An empire of the British type must have close coupling between centre and periphery, for it is dependent upon trade. An exercise in laissez-faire capitalism gone mad, it grew and prospered as a source of cheap raw materials and cheap consumers for the industrial powerhouse of the world's first industrial nation.
An empire of this type of dependent on shared resource control. Such an empire requires tight coupling between provinces, if not between provinces and capital. If two provinces ran into trouble, an adjoining unruly provinces resources would be assigned to a loyal province. It had regional governors, true, and a bureaucracy, and a hereditary ruling class, but it enforced governance through control of resources - a 'water empire' (hydraulic state, water-monopoly empire, or hydraulic despotism). The Chinese empire didn't operate like the Roman empire, either. What is the interstellar equivalent of the Golden Horde? An empire of this sort is dependent on the inability of the governed to defend themselves. But they didn't attempt to colonize the natives, or as far as I know impose their culture they just demanded food, tribute, and no defensive countermeasures. In many cases they imposed satraps to run the local show. The horde basically destroyed any city with walls and forcibly coopted grazing land, and demanded tribute. The Mongol empire didn't operate on the same principles as the Roman empire, either. An empire of this sort is dependent merely on the ability of the imperial class to beat up anyone who refuses to pay tribute on demand. This, for an Aztec-style tribute empire, the answer is: 'a long time', meaning years or decades.
DARKNES ASTRO EMPIRES FREE
(No local governors, taxation paid only on demand in the form of gifts and jewelry, outlying cities free to refuse demands - whenever they felt like butchering the Aztec imperial emissaries and fighting the consequent war.) The Aztecs ran what is generally known as an empire, but it didn't operate on the same principles as the Roman empire.
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